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Sowell: Inarticulate Republicans
Creators Syndicate ^ | October 8, 2013 | Thomas Sowell

Posted on 10/07/2013 10:09:38 AM PDT by jazusamo

If the continued existence of mathematics depended on the ability of the Republicans to defend the proposition that two plus two equals four, that would probably mean the end of mathematics and of all the things that require mathematics.

Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Boehner, epitomized what has been wrong with the Republicans for decades when he emerged from a White House meeting last Wednesday, went over to the assembled microphones, briefly expressed his disgust with the Democrats' intransigence and walked on away.

We are in the midst of a national crisis, immediately affecting millions of Americans and potentially affecting the kind of country this will become if ObamaCare goes into effect — and yet, with multiple television network cameras focused on Speaker Boehner as he emerged from the White House, he couldn't be bothered to prepare a statement that would help clarify a confused situation, full of fallacies and lies.

Boehner was not unique in having a blind spot when it comes to recognizing the importance of articulation and the need to put some serious time and effort into presenting your case in a way that people outside the Beltway would understand. On the contrary, he has been all too typical of Republican leaders in recent decades.

When the government was shut down during the Clinton administration, Republican leaders who went on television to tell their side of the story talked about "OMB numbers" versus "CBO numbers" — as if most people beyond the Beltway knew what these abbreviations meant or why the statistics in question were relevant to the shutdown. Why talk to them in Beltway-speak?

When Speaker Boehner today goes around talking about the "CR," that is just more of the same thinking — or lack of thinking. Policy wonks inside the Beltway know...

(Excerpt) Read more at creators.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: boehner; debtceiling; govtshutdown; inarticulate; republicans; sowell; thomassowell
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To: C. Edmund Wright

Just damn! Why won’t the gopE leaders hire a speechwriter who can articulate the case against 0bamacare well and just read the damn script?! (just like TOTUS does ...)


21 posted on 10/07/2013 10:25:24 AM PDT by Servant of the Cross (the Truth will set you free)
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To: onedoug

I think he is just arrogant, and doesn’t believe he HAS to explain anything, just “shut up and let me do this”., Just like the GOPe’s do when picking candidates


22 posted on 10/07/2013 10:25:30 AM PDT by buckeye49
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To: Servant of the Cross

I could be had for under a million a year....


23 posted on 10/07/2013 10:26:16 AM PDT by C. Edmund Wright (Tokyo Rove is more than a name, it's a GREAT WEBSITE)
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To: jazusamo

Sowell actually gives the Stupid Party their lines: just start saying, “we refuse to give Obama a blank check.” Say it early and often.


24 posted on 10/07/2013 10:26:25 AM PDT by piytar (The predator-class is furious that their prey are shooting back.)
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To: jazusamo
The GOP has no one in the formal leadership who can articulate any benefit to free enterprise, the rule of law, sanctity of contracts, security of borders or any of the principles enunciated in the Declaration or the Constitution. They are not familiar with them, they do not believe them, they do not understand them. To the GOP leadership it is a foreign language. We cannot expect them [and most of us don't] to be able to argue a case in a language they cannot speak. That is why Cruz has taken over effective leadership of the Party. He can speak the language fluently.
25 posted on 10/07/2013 10:27:13 AM PDT by Paine in the Neck (Is John's moustache long enough YET?)
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To: jazusamo
with multiple television network cameras focused on Speaker Boehner as he emerged from the White House, he couldn't be bothered to prepare a statement that would help clarify a confused situation, full of fallacies and lies

I will take issue here with Dr. Sowell, in as much, that were Boehner to give a detailed statement, the lying media would distort it all the way into next month. Better to keep it at a few concise words and leave the media to their degeneracy.

26 posted on 10/07/2013 10:27:44 AM PDT by Ouderkirk (To the left, everything must evidence that this or that strand of leftist theory is true)
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To: jazusamo

Thomas Sowell is absolutely right. The Democrat Party and their propagandists in the media are clearly organized. They all use the same words and phrases to push their political agenda.

A “clean” bill is just one, excellent example. It’s a short, snappy word with good meaning. Democrats simply want a “clean” bill. Republicans, on the other hand, try to counter by explaining in complicated detail what they’re attempting to do.

This is one of the reasons why I like Newt Gingrich. He’s very articulate and usually better at tearing through the left’s BS than they are at spinning it.


27 posted on 10/07/2013 10:28:01 AM PDT by CitizenUSA (Conservatives are not anarchists!)
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To: jazusamo
Finally, the great Thomas Sowell has told us the truth.

Waited a long time (seems like years) to hear somebody say it. Republicans should require their members to TAKE LESSONS in communication. Democrats do it.

The reason low-information voters don't understand the conservative philosophy is Republicans have not broken it down into simple terms.

28 posted on 10/07/2013 10:29:32 AM PDT by Liberty Wins ( The average lefty is synapse challenged)
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To: jazusamo

Aye, there’s the rub


29 posted on 10/07/2013 10:29:49 AM PDT by NonValueAdded (Occupy the DC Mall - take back the monuments)
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To: jazusamo; All

The Rove/Soros wing of the GOP was never too bright to begin with....


30 posted on 10/07/2013 10:32:12 AM PDT by SeminoleCounty (Fact Is: GOPe want ObamaCare.)
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To: jazusamo

I believe Boehner, McCain, Graham, et al are more frightened of losing their grip on the old boy, GOP culture than they are frightened by any language contained in the ACA. They will undercut Cruz, Paul, Palin before they will undercut ACA.


31 posted on 10/07/2013 10:33:28 AM PDT by GSWarrior
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To: jazusamo

Inarticulate?

That’s typical of ALL public officials.

I am old enough to remember when politicians were well spoken... because they were properly educated. You might not agree with what they said, but they were erudite.

It’s not like that now.


32 posted on 10/07/2013 10:33:48 AM PDT by SMARTY ("The test of every religious, political, or educational system is the man that it forms." H. Amiel)
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To: onedoug
Boehner doesn’t know what he believes either.

Sure he does, but admitting it honestly would create a Category 5 s**tstorm.

33 posted on 10/07/2013 10:34:06 AM PDT by Colonel_Flagg (My PV2 is my hero.)
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To: jazusamo

For crying out loud, this is not rocket science. The basic advertising rule is you have to repeat a message 25 times before the customer will buy it.

Bankruptcy, bankruptcy, bankruptcy, bankruptcy, bankruptcy, bankruptcy, wow how hard is that?


34 posted on 10/07/2013 10:36:59 AM PDT by Liberty Wins ( The average lefty is synapse challenged)
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To: jazusamo
Democrats, by contrast, are all talk. They could sell refrigerators to Eskimos before Republicans could sell them blankets.

Democrats could sell the refrigerators but wouldn't be able to deliver them.
Republicans would be able to deliver but couldn't close the sale.

The sales people versus the production people.

This seems to be the battle in every organization.
It almost seems to be a mutually exclusive qualities or a right brain, left brain sort of thing.

35 posted on 10/07/2013 10:38:49 AM PDT by oldbrowser (We have a rogue government in Washington)
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To: jazusamo
Boehner was not unique in having a blind spot when it comes to recognizing the importance of articulation and the need to put some serious time and effort into presenting your case in a way that people outside the Beltway would understand. On the contrary, he has been all too typical of Republican leaders in recent decades.

When the government was shut down during the Clinton administration, Republican leaders who went on television to tell their side of the story talked about "OMB numbers" versus "CBO numbers" — as if most people beyond the Beltway knew what these abbreviations meant or why the statistics in question were relevant to the shutdown. Why talk to them in Beltway-speak?

Typical Republican speech, post-Reagan:

"...mumble,mumble,mumble.....

less spending....

mumble, mumble, mumble....

reduce the deficit....

mumble, mumble, mumble....

lower taxes..."

Wash, rinse, repeat.
36 posted on 10/07/2013 10:39:26 AM PDT by Bratch
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To: jazusamo

The GOPers who actually believe in freedom and liberty don’t seem to have any problem articulating it. The GOPe scum who want socialism lite can’t articulate our founding principles because they don’t believe in them.


37 posted on 10/07/2013 10:41:21 AM PDT by RightOnTheBorder
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To: BillM

The trouble with your proposal is the mathematics. You have the math wrong. 200,000,000 adults paying $2,080 each is only $416,000,000,000, or in words $416 billion. This is not enough to cover the national debt. If the debt ceiling is raised to $16 trillion, using 200,000,000 adults, the tax would need to be more like $80,000 per adult. At that level, I think you’d have a serious non-compliance problem since $80,000 per year is greater than 100% of annual income for the majority of Americans.


38 posted on 10/07/2013 10:41:54 AM PDT by stremba
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To: Maelstorm

Maelstorm: “I miss Gingrich”

Funny, but that’s exactly who came to my mind as soon as I read the article. The Republican Party would do well to hire Newt at a communications consultant and/or spokesman.


39 posted on 10/07/2013 10:44:53 AM PDT by CitizenUSA (Conservatives are not anarchists!)
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To: jazusamo

Sowell is 100% correct on this. Sowell expresses one war (the war of words) we should NOT be losing-—ever.

If this has been so obvious to us, why don’t Repub leaders and the RNC employ some communicators/speech writers? Dems beat Repubs senseless every time with their simple, inane, “talking point” strategy/lies, and Repubs never learn a lesson.

Ted Cruz, a rare exception, seems to get it! Problem is...the message needs to be coordinated! With truth and facts on our side, the war of words is a war we should never lose-—ever.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Sowell:
“Democrats, by contrast, are all talk. They could sell refrigerators to Eskimos before Republicans could sell them blankets.
[snip]

The Democrats have obviously given a lot of attention to articulation, including coordinated articulation among their members. Some years ago, Senator Chuck Schumer was recorded, apparently without his knowledge, telling fellow Democrats to keep using the word “extremist” when discussing Republicans.”


40 posted on 10/07/2013 10:45:11 AM PDT by thouworm (Harry Reid: 'We Support the Federal government. That's Our Job. That's What We Do.')
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